Primarily organised by the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, this event took place during World Antibiotic Awareness Week on 13th and 14th November. There were a lot of great regional and local speakers, and the event was well attended even by officials from local ministries – always a good sigh for the National Strategic […]
The latest to make the news is that of a pre-school teacher (Little Greenhouse, Bukit Batok) who was diagnosed with pulmonary TB last Wednesday, leading to planned screening of all 104 pre-schoolers 20 staff. This follows news of the elderly resident from Peacehaven Bedok Day Centre who was diagnosed with TB in June, leading to […]
A young odd-jobs man presented with cough for 3 months, associated with weight loss and fatigue at work. Finally seeking medical attention at a public hospital, he was found to have cavitation and infiltrates in the right upper lobe of the lung, with sputum microscopy showing high counts of acid-fast bacilli (AFB 4+). He was […]
A middle-aged man with sudden onset of painful lesions on both lower limbs. No prior significant exposures or clinical symptoms. No fever. Questions: What is the clinical diagnosis? How should this person be worked up and treated? This is a clear cut case of erythema nodosum. Skin biopsy would show panniculitis, but it is unnecessary […]
News of this outbreak – involving 6 MDR-TB cases to date – was released to the press yesterday evening by the Singapore Ministry of Health. The Channelnewsasia report also includes video footage of our Director of Medical Services as well as Prof Sonny Wang, long-term director of the TB Control Unit. These 6 cases were […]
I received the Ministry of Health Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for tuberculosis a couple of weeks ago. The full version is also available on the MOH website here. Mixed feelings. There is always a bit of pride at having contributed to such things. Having sat in on the meetings, I am also aware of the […]
Another young man from South Asia, who had been working in the construction industry in Singapore for a few years, was incidentally found to have a painless mass over the left upper quadrant of his abdomen during a routine medical examination. He mentioned that it had appeared over the past week, gradually increasing in size. He was […]
A young man (in his 30s) from South Asia presented with progressively worsening headache over 4 weeks. This was associated with low-grade fever over a week, followed by diplopia (double vision) over the past 4 days. He had previously been well, with no medical co-morbidities. There was no significant contact history. He had received some […]
Happy Chinese New Year of the Fire Monkey! I am privileged to have a second contribution by another fellow (non-infectious diseases) colleague. Although I suppose in some ways a respiratory specialist is close… A middle-aged non-smoking local woman had cough associated with whitish sputum for 2 months. No significant contact or travel history. No other […]
I have been neglecting this blog because of time pressures from the SG50 Project. That’s thankfully being wrapped up now, and life can slowly return to normal. In any case, here’s a staged video from the project about directly observed anti-tuberculosis therapy (DOTS) in Singapore. Unfortunately it is too onerous (not to mention potentially stigmatising) to […]
MIPHIDIC 